Bombay High Court grants probate of woman's will 31 years after plea

The Bombay High Court has granted probate for the execution of a deceased womans will 31 years after a plea to execute the will was filed in court calling it a tragic and terrible commentary on our justice delivery systemJustice Gautam Patel on March 10 decided upon the testamentary petition filed by the womans four children two of whom had died while the plea remained pending in the HC The other two petitioners are now in their 80sA copy of the order was made available on SundayThe court noted with dismay that the plea remained pending for three decades even though the will had been uncontestedAs per the HC judgement the will belonged to city resident Rasubai Chinoy who died in October 1989She made her will in 1980 bequeathing all her assets including a property in the Masjid Bunder area of Mumbai to a charity established in the name of her maternal auntChinoy had five children one of whom is based in Karachi PakistanThe other four children approached the HC after Chinoys death stating they did not want to contest the will and that the court therefore allow for its execution so that the assets in question could be bequeathed to the charityThe HC registry at the time however flagged the petition after noting that the will had not been attestedIt said that since the will had not been attested or signed by witnesses it did not conform to the requirements of Section 63 of the Indian Succession Act 1925 and therefore should not be considered as a valid willOn Wednesday Justice Patel ruled that Chinoy belonged to the Cutchi Memon community Therefore her will was governed by the Mahomedan Law that did not require attestation of willsJustice Patel held that the Indian Succession Act did not apply in Chinoys caseHe relied upon a 1905 judgment of the Bombay HC to come to such a conclusionThe frst oddity about the matter and it is truly inexplicable apart from being a tragic and terrible commentary on our justice delivery system is that though uncontested the matter has been pending in this court for the last thirty one years Justice Patel saidThere is indeed a question of law involved But the answer to it is neither complex nor new Indeed that answer is even older than the Petition the solution is from 1905 It is an answer that the Petition could have received very much earlier he saidJustice Patel ordered that the probate for Chinoys will be issued by March 19 this yearHe also passed a slew of directions to facilitate the payment of pending property tax dues on the assets in question to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation and for completion of other formalities for bequeathing the assets to charityThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever